Bodies of Light

Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down I listened via Audio book and my first comment would be that Casey Withoos, the first-person narrator for protagonist Maggie's story, was superb to my ears. She was able to tell the story in a kind of world-weary manner that suited the tragic challenges that could have become a chore to narrate. No histrionics, just a telling of the tragedy of a life that goes wrong from the very beginning.

The short story is that Maggie gets a facebook message from someone, who she may or may not trust, about who she once may have been. This leads to a long tale of Maggie telling of her life story from a young memory of her dad going to jail through to middle age opioids addiction. Set across Australia, New Zealand and the USA, Maggie's life is a story of her attempts to lift herself from her foster care/institutionalising childhood and lead a normal life. This reader felt there was a constant theme of hiding from a past and disappearing into one's own mind as a form of protection. It made a difficult read/listen for this mid-sixties male who has led a life of comfort and care.

And that brings me to a point that seems to occur in my mind about that life of comfort and care that I have lead. Born into a loving and hardworking family, not particularly scholastic I have been able to work a long life in an industry I enjoyed, own a home and get comfortably superannuated to the point that retirement beckons, life's been good to me so far. What's that to do with this book?

After finishing this, I was curious as to whom the story was based on and read interviews with Jennifer Down. Her parents were welfare workers; tales of woe were commonplace discussion. She had also read up the subjects, such as child abuse when it was investigated by various levels of governments. I suppose that the book is a mash-up of some peo0ples lives. Jennifer stated in one interview I read, that readers had made contact with her to say that it reflected something true from their own experiances. What is true is that abuse of children is hardly new, just read Victorian literature, just read deeper into the media than the headlines, Jennifer Down cited Don Dale Detention Centre in one interview as an example. One can search plenty more instances in any part of the world.

And that leads me to my feeling that my generation in Australia, white male and well off in the vast majority of cases, just has no idea or sometimes have even give thought to subjects such as this. If indicative of people I know the headlines are enough, why read more? And a book such as this? It is hardly derring do, and why read it when the cost of an Olympic stadium is the headline of the day?
As thought-provoking as this story is, it will make no difference.


My only criticism of this read is it may be a bit too long. Other than that it is a fine winner of the 2022 Miles Franklin Award, awarded to “a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases” and recommended as such to my generation who in my opinion have no idea how good they have it.

‘I was always looking ahead to a time when I would miss this.'

Bodies of Light is a magnificently constructed exploration of trauma, survival, vulnerability, and identity. Down poses the questions of what it means to exist and what it looks like to exist in a world that continually subdues your personhood, and she does so with a voice that is clear and powerful.

I don't agree with a large consensus of reviewers who've described this novel as trauma-porn. All of the detail seemed necessary to Maggie's storyline to me. Without it, we would not have been able to feel in the same way her grief, shame, resilience, fierce spirit and aching heart.

I felt a dip towards the last quarter of an otherwise throughly vivid and mesmerising read. I also understood why Tony's storyline was included, however I feel the point it was trying to make wasn't as strong as it could've been.

Since Normal People, I've become increasingly fond of writers who don't use quotation marks. It feels more natural in a way. I am not fond, however, of TV being spelt as teevee - took me right out of the story every time.

This is nitpicking though, really. 4.5 stars - a brilliance!!!